in syria, the u.n. announced it is pulling out non-essential international staff for their own safety. those who remain will be restricted to the capital city, damascus. separately, the u.s. voiced mounting concern about activity at syrian government sites storing chemical weapons. this afternoon, president obama warned syrian leader bashar al- assad not to cross that line. oday i want to make it absolutely clear to assad and those under his command, the world is watching. the use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable. and if you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons, there will be consequences. and you will be held accountable. >> sreenivasan: in response, syria's government released a statement saying it would never use chemical weapons on its own people. the regime has never confirmed it has such weapons. there were warnings about greater curbs on the internet, as the world's nations gathered today for a summit on telecommunications. the 11-day conference in dubai is the f